Basu: Best outcome will be if system works with this young mother

DHS workers may feel they are in a Catch-22 situation

Oct. 29, 2013

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As temperatures dipped into the low 40s last week, a homeless, out-of-work young mother was found living in an unheated east-side Des Moines garage with her boyfriend and her 10-month-old daughter. The few homeless shelters that take families were full. She had no relatives willing to open their doors.

So 23-year-old Danae Haynes apparently did the best she could.

She and her boyfriend, Justin Sorter, 22, pitched a tent inside the garage and heated it with a space heater and blankets. Sorter’s aunt, the homeowner, said they could come in to use the bathroom and cook. Sorter’s aunt said the baby, Cylette, was well cared for. Some days, Haynes has said, she went without food just so the baby could eat.

Then a call to police from a concerned neighbor set in motion a string of events that took the story from a Dickensian backdrop into modern-day America. The police and social services got involved.

Des Moines police found a disheveled garage, a potential fire hazard and some pipes they believed were used for smoking K2. Haynes and Sorter were criminally charged and sent to jail, paving the way for the Iowa Department of Human Services to take custody of the child. Though Haynes was out on bond a day later, she doesn’t know where Cylette is. In interviews she has wept and said her baby is her life and that, “They are putting my baby through hell.”

Her next court date isn’t until Nov. 20, almost a month after they were separated.

It’s hard to draw conclusions when people close to the case — the Iowa Department of Human Services and the Polk County attorney — won’t talk, citing privacy laws. As of this writing, no lawyer is assigned to Haynes. A public defender appeared at her initial processing in jail.

But there are nagging questions about how the case morphed from one of a homeless family in need of assistance into a criminal case.

The system evidently worked to promote a young child’s physical safety. But were mother’s and child’s emotional well-being treated as seriously? Were efforts made to keep them together?

Of course you don’t want a baby around knives and drug-affected caregivers. Haynes has denied knowing anything about drug paraphernalia. Sorter, who isn’t the baby’s father, allegedly told police he had smoked synthetic marijuana earlier. But both Haynes and Sorter were charged with possession, which also triggered a probation violation charge against her related to an aggravated misdemeanor conviction last year for driving a vehicle without the owner’s consent.

A third charge of child endangerment apparently was tied to the overall living conditions. The police report said the space heater was a fire hazard. The report also said “the child had no proper sleeping area to ensure its safety from SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome) or suffocation by the blankets.”

That seems like a stretch. Suffocation can happen when a child is too young to roll over, but by 10 months, that’s hardly a concern. Granted, police didn’t know Cylette’s exact age. But taken together, these charges leave you wondering if this mother is being saddled with the misdeeds of her boyfriend — or worse, if poverty is really to blame for her troubles with the law.

We have social safety nets that are supposed to prevent a mother and child from living in squalor. For whatever reasons, Haynes, whose own childhood included a succession of foster homes, didn’t access them. But from what she has told reporters, she dearly loves the baby. Police found Cylette healthy, and a hospital exam confirmed that. “The child wasn’t harmed or in danger of anything immediate,” Halifax said.

Yet mother and baby are torn apart, possibly triggered by the child-endangerment charge. Polk County Attorney John Sarcone wouldn’t answer, saying the question hit too close to the case. He has 45 days to file charges. Is prosecuting this mother really in the child’s best interests?

If the child-endangerment charge set all this in motion, maybe police should consider the unintended consequences of the charges they file. A disheveled space is far different than bona fide child abuse or neglect.

DHS workers no doubt feel they’re in a Catch-22 — blamed for not acting sooner if a child gets harmed at home, but criticized for jumping the gun for removing one too hastily. They need to keep their sights on the larger context and whether a parent is genuinely trying and can be helped.

Haynes may need guidance, support and supervision, along with a safe place to live. She may also need to keep a distance from her boyfriend. But from all appearances, the best outcome for her and her baby will come from the system working with her — rather than against her.